Monday, November 30, 2009

This week, the following Eat’n Park locations will be holding Tips for Tots events to benefit our Caring for Kids campaign. Servers will be donating all tips collected during the event to local children’s hospitals, so stop by and help make an impact on the lives of kids in your area.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

We are thrilled to hear that our guests love our new look at the Sewickley Eat’n Park as much as we do. Many guests have taken the time to let us know how much they are enjoying the new décor and improved atmosphere. We have completely overhauled the lobby, counter, and bakery areas and made enhancements throughout the dining room. One of the best features is our new Smiley Stuff store. Now guests can easily find their favorite Smiley merchandise – check it out:

Here are some other photos for you to preview our new look, but you really need to see it for yourself. We hope to see you soon!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Every Black Friday, we welcome all you hungry shoppers into our restaurants for a quick, delicious breakfast (just click here to see which locations are offering our Shoppers’ Buffet). After all, you need a little fuel to seek out those great sales!

This year, we’re inviting you to get into the true spirit of the season on Black Friday by “making a change with your change” at Eat’n Park. We’re placing water jugs in the lobbies of each and every Eat’n Park location and asking our guests to donate their spare change on Black Friday. We hope that you’ll stop by while you’re out shopping to give a gift to the kids at children’s hospitals in our communities. Individually, it’s a small donation, maybe even just a few coins rattling in your pocket. But together, we’ll make a big difference in the life of a child this holiday season.

For more information on our Caring for Kids Campaign, just click here.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Get in, get out, and get shopping! Fuel up with a delicious breakfast before (or after!) hitting those Black Friday sales. Our Shoppers' Buffet will be available at the locations below on Friday, November 27, for only $6.99. Now that's a deal!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Our Christmas Star commercial is a beloved favorite for young and old. Its simple, timeless message has resonated with viewers for more than 25 years. If you’re wondering how this classic came to be, click here to read the story and the many wonderful comments left by our guests.

For us at Eat’n Park, the holiday season just wouldn’t be the same without the commercial. And we know that many of you feel the same, regardless of whether you still call Pittsburgh home or if you’ve moved halfway around the world.

For that reason, we’re happy to post the commercial here! Just click below to view it. And for those of you who live in the PA/OH/WV area, you can catch it live on TV during the shows listed below. Check your local listings for times.

From everyone here at Eat’n Park, here’s hoping that the special lift you get this season lasts all year long. Happy Holidays!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

More good news! Thanks to our sustainability initiatives, Glynwood has honored us with their 2009 Harvest Award for Connecting Communities, Farmers, and Food! Glynwood is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to saving farming in the Northeast and increasing access to locally-produced and sourced foods.

We were chosen for our leadership in eco-responsibility and for our ongoing commitment to offering guests local food through our FarmSource program. Through FarmSource, we currently purchase more than 20 percent of our food locally.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Join us this week during one of our Tips for Tots events! Servers will donate all tips collected during the dates/times listed to our Caring for Kids Campaign, which supports local children’s hospitals. We hope to see you there!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

We are excited to introduce Eat’n Park’s latest and biggest step toward being a greener company and supporting sustainability. This month, we’ll be breaking ground on a brand new Eat’n Park in Fox Chapel. What makes it green? This will be the first LEED-built restaurant in the City of Pittsburgh and only the second in Allegheny County.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification means that the restaurant was designed using strategies aimed at improving energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, and other metrics that are critical to efficient use of natural resources in order to minimize the restaurant’s impact on the environment.

Located in the Waterworks development of Fox Chapel, this new restaurant is scheduled to open in May of 2010. In addition to incorporating elements that will enhance our guests’ experiences (such as a drive-up Pickup Window for takeout and outdoor seating), we’re constructing the building from environmentally-friendly materials, and we’re installing Energy Star-rated equipment throughout.

We’ll also be harvesting natural light through the use of skylights and an exposed lobby structure, allowing us to reduce the power used through electric lights whenever it’s bright outside. The restaurant will be equipped with light sensors to automatically dim the electric lights when it’s bright. Additionally, our parking lot will feature reserved spaces for carpooling and low-emissions vehicles.

If you’ve kept up with Jamie Moore’s posts on sustainability, you know that we’ve been taking steps to reduce our environmental impact by using CFL bulbs in all of our restaurants, recycling fryer oil into bio-diesel fuel, removing placemats and paper towels, and sourcing food locally through our FarmSource program. This new restaurant is a huge step, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

As construction progresses, we’ll be posting updates here. In the meantime, feel free to leave us your thoughts.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

After kicking off with our Free Smiley Cookie Day last Friday, our 31st annual Caring for Kids Campaign is underway! During this company-wide fundraiser, our guests and team members raise money for local children’s hospitals through merchandise sales and participation in special activities.

Throughout the five-week campaign, we’ll be posting those activities here, so you can see when your local Eat’n Park is doing something special. This week, six Eat’n Park locations are holding “Tips for Tots” events. During Tips for Tots, servers volunteer to donate 100% of their tips for the night to the campaign. Sometimes, you’ll even see local celebrities posing as servers!

Since event dates and times are subject to change, please call ahead to ensure that the event you’re planning to attend is still being held during the date/time listed. Thanks for your help supporting the kids!

Monday, November 2, 2009

There are a lot of things we’re proud of at Eat’n Park. We’re proud to offer you great food at a great price. We’re proud to be a welcoming place for families. But perhaps most of all, we’re proud to be a part of your community. And because of that, we’re committed to giving back to the neighborhoods we call home. One of the ways that we do that is through our annual Caring for Kids Fundraising Campaign. During the campaign, all of our team members unite for 5 weeks with one common goal: to raise money for local children’s hospitals and charities.

Now in its 31st year, our campaign has raised more than $7 million, thanks to the enthusiasm of our team members, loyal guests and great partners like Lincoln Mercury. Every year, local Lincoln Mercury dealers donate a vehicle for us to raffle off to benefit the campaign. This year, it’s a 2010 Mercury Milan.

To celebrate, we’re kicking off the campaign on November 6 with something special: FREE Smiley Cookie Day, courtesy of Lincoln Mercury! Anyone who buys a $2 Mercury Milan raffle ticket between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. will receive a free Smiley Cookie, courtesy of local Lincoln Mercury dealers.

In addition to the raffle, you can purchase limited-edition Smiley Stuff like Smiley Magnets or Christmas Star Flipbooks for just $2. They’re perfect stocking stuffers. The Flipbook depicts our famous animated Christmas Star commercial. As you flip through the book, you’ll see the tree bend over to help the star to the top!

We hope you’ll stop by our restaurants for one of the many fun activities we have planned to support children’s hospitals. We’re so appreciative of the support of our loyal guests throughout the last 30 years and we’re excited for a great 2010 Caring for Kids Campaign!

At Eat’n Park, we may be best known for our Smiley Cookies, but that’s not all our bakeries have to offer. We’re also known to bake a delicious pie (or 10). From Dutch Apple to Blackberry to Pumpkin (just to name a few), we have a great selection of fall flavors. In addition, our crème pies like Lemon Meringue and Oreo Crème are delicious indulgences after a holiday meal.

Because our pies are baked fresh, they’re easy to pass off as your own home-baked treat at your family’s holiday gatherings (don’t worry, we won’t tell). Just order ahead to make sure that we have your favorite pie ready for pick up when you want it. We’ll do the baking so you can concentrate on the eating!

This month’s pie of the month is Pumpkin, on sale for just $6.99! It’s just one of the many delicious flavors we carry. Fruits, meringues and crèmes…we’ve got ‘em all.

Call your local Eat’n Park (click here for the number) to order one of the following flavors:

About the blog

Throughout this blog, we hope to share a bit of our culture with you through stories, recipes, and other information that we think you’ll enjoy. More importantly, we hope you’ll share with us – we want to answer those questions you’ve always had about Eat’n Park (how did we come up with that name, anyway?) and we want to hear your ideas, feedback, and hopefully, a few compliments too!

So, please feel free to comment on postings that pique your curiosity. We'll do our best to respond to questions within 72 hours. Please keep in mind that we are a family restaurant; comments containing offensive language will not be posted.